Deadlock in US-Afghanistan peace plans, despite troops withdrawal announcement

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Plans for a route to peace between the United States and the Afghan Islamist Taliban have become deadlocked amid canceled talks in Turkey, and despite President Joe Biden’s announcement earlier this month that US and NATO troops will unconditionally withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11, NPR reports.

A United States-backed conference in Istanbul, Turkey had been planned to draw up a framework for peace talks between the two sides, and drive negotiations on major issues before US and NATO troops leave Afghanistan, American diplomatic sources told NPR. However, two days before Biden’s April 14 announcement on troops withdrawal, the Taliban said they would not attend the conference after all.

NPR notes that prior to the Taliban’s backing out of the conference, Biden had been “signaling” that troops would stay on. In a tweet, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said: “Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan.”

The talks have so far not been rescheduled, NPR reports. In a statement, The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the conference is postponed until “a later date when conditions for making meaningful progress would be more favorable.”
In any event, observers have noted that the US may have lost its leverage against the Taliban in announcing a unilateral withdrawal. “The timing surprised me,” Muska Dastageer, a lecturer in peace and security studies at the American University of Afghanistan, told NPR.

“I wonder if the consequences of the timing for this announcement were thought through in relation to the peace process if it was considered that this might seriously disincentivize the Taliban and effectively obstruct the peace process. My fear is that that’s where we stand today.”

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